Joker: Folie À Deux is finally out in cinemas, with the musical psychological thriller seeing Lady Gaga starring alongside Joaquin Phoenix in a sequel to the 2019 film.
While the first Joker film focused on the origin story of the iconic Batman villain, Joker: Folie À Deux sees Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck (Joker) meet his love interest Harleen 'Lee' Quinzel (Harley Quinn), with the pair bonding while Fleck is incarcerated at Arkham State Hospital as he awaits his trial for the crimes he committed in the previous film.
Offering a chaotic yet compelling deep dive into the minds of its characters, Joker: Folie à Deux draws its audiences in with the same melancholic tone of the first film, though is blended with a beguiling yet unsettling sense of hope from the blossoming romance it centres on.
Truly, we didn't want the film to end, which immediately had us wondering whether we'd be getting another final tidbit in the form of a Joker 2 post-credits scene.
In a recent interview, Lady Gaga explained that Joker: Folie À Deux “really asks you to sort of grapple with the masks that we all wear. Also, what is danger and what is not danger, and also the way that we can love parts of each other. Does she love the whole him or does she only love a part of him? Does he love the whole her? What is their capacity even to see each other? Are they just swept up in this tornado that's happening? For sure, identity is a huge piece."
A complex film, the very fact that it's a musical divided fans even before its release, with director Todd Philipps wanting to call it a film “where music is an essential element” rather than a full blown musical, explaining that the characters "come alive in that moment and through music."
If you're reading this now, chances are you've seen the film and have made your mind up on how you feel about it for yourself.
But if you're wondering whether to stay put in the cinema for a potential Joker 2 post-credits scene, here's everything you need to know, including the scope for a third Joker film.
Is there a Joker 2 post-credits scene?
Typically, a post-credits scene serves the purpose of tying up any loose ends from earlier in the film, calling back to a funny moment or setting the audience up for a potential next film.
Though post-credits scenes are now a given in Marvel and Disney films, Joker has a very different, much grittier altogether tone than these film franchises. With that in mind, a Joker 2 post-credits scene feels somewhat out of place, with the first film notably not featuring one.
Officially, there's no Joker: Folie À Deux post-credits scene that you need to stick around for after the film concludes, though given that the sequel is notably 15 minutes longer than the first Joker film, we'd argue that the additional runtime serves a similar purpose to that of a post-credits, particularly given that very final conclusion to the film.
Joker: Folie À Deux comes in at 2 hours and 17 minutes rather than the first Joker's just over two hours.
Will there be a Joker 3 film?
Joker 2 spoilers ahead – beware!
In the final scenes of Joker: Folie À Deux we see Arthur Fleck turning his back on the Joker identity, with him in turn losing a lot of support, including that of Harley Quinn.
After being arrested and returning to Arkham, Arthur is taken to see a visitor when a fellow inmate stops to tell him a joke. It's at this moment the inmate stabs Arthur to death, feeling betrayed at his decision to give up on being the Joker.
However, vitally, we see the inmate carving a smile into his own face, implying that the spirit of the Joker lives on. Given this conclusion it's hard to imagine what a potential Joker 3 might look like.
The film's director Todd Philipps told Variety in a recent interview “It was fun to play in this sort of sandbox for two movies, but I think we’ve said what we wanted to say in this world.”
Hmm, doesn't sound super promising that we'll be getting a follow-up.
That said, while Phoenix's character meets a fairly final conclusion, we can't help but wonder if there might be scope for a potential Harley Quinn spinoff or third Joker with an entirely different antagonist continuing on the memory of the Joker.
Ultimately, that all depends on the success of Joker: Folie À Deux, so watch this space!
The way he looks at her!
